St. Bartholomew, Apostle
Feast date: Aug 24
Saint Bartholomew is one of the Twelve Apostles, mentioned sixth in the three Gospel lists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14), and seventh in the list of Acts (1:13). The name (Bartholomaios) means “son of Talmai” which was an ancient Hebrew name.
Besides being listed as an Apostle, he is not otherwise mentioned in the New Testament, at least not under the name Bartholomew: many ancient writers, and Catholic tradition have identified Bartholomew as Nathaniel in the Gospel of John (John 1:45-51, and 21:2).
The Gospel passage read at Mass on the feast of Saint Bartholomew is precisely this passage from John (1:45-51) where Nathaniel is introduced to Jesus by his friend Phillip, and Jesus says of him “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him (1:47).”
We are presented with the Apostle’s character in this brief and beautiful dialogue with the Lord Jesus. He is a good Jew, honest and innocent, a just man, who devotes much time to quiet reflection and prayer – “under the fig tree (1:48)” – and has been awaiting the Messiah, the Holy One of God.
At Jesus’ mention that “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you (1:48),” Nathaniel responded “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel (1:49)!”
Being “a true child of Israel,” Nathaniel was a man well-read in the Scriptures and knew what they said of the Messiah and where he would come from. This is why he is skeptical of Phillip’s claim that Jesus is the Messiah, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth (1:46)?”
But Nathaniel was lacking “duplicity” – that is, his heart was undivided, his intentions pure – his openness to reality was always ready to recognize and surrender to the truth when he encountered it. He remained open to his friend Phillip’s invitation to “Come and see (1:46).”
In encountering Jesus and hearing His words, he found himself face to face with the Truth Himself, and, like John the Baptist’s leap in his mother’s womb at the Lord’s presence, Nathaniel’s words lept out of his own heart in a clear and simple confession of faith, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Jesus, in Matthew 5:8, says, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” In Nathaniel we have an example of the pure man who sees – recognizes - God when confronted with Him, and on seeing Him believes in Him, and upon believing in Him, follows Him.
Nothing is known for sure about the life of Nathaniel/Bartholomew after the Ascension of Jesus, but tradition holds that he preached in the East and died a martyr’s death in Armenia, being flayed alive for having won converts to the Lord Jesus.
Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-bartholomew-apostle-569
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
Thank you CNA for this inspiring an exact portrait of Nathaniel/St. Bartholomew. A few more things are known about this saint through the ‘non canonical’ writings of various mystics, notoriously Maria Valtorta’s visions dating from the WW2 era. It is understandable that CNA may not wish to take the ‘risk’ of publishing ‘extra-scriptural’, so as a mere commentator of the comment section, if I may add-up…
St. Bartholomew was the oldest apostle of the twelve originals. He apparently was a small farmer, and neighbor to St. Philip also a small land owner. St. Philip was married with two daughters, who later both consecrated their virginity to The Lord. Nathaniel was married to a wife who was also very old. They had no children. An untold anecdote may bring light to the personality of St. Bartholomew for when he hesitated to accept a suggestion to adopt a little slave Gaelic girl who had been liberated by Our Lord while in a journey to Caesarea Maritime. The said Gaelic slave girl, named Aurea Galla had been abducted from Gaul and raised in an island for the sole purpose of being sold as a sex slave. Her name meaning ‘Gold of Gaul’ was the only thing left given to her by her parents once an orphan. For example, since she was fair, during her captivity as being ‘raised’ she was forbidden to step outside during daylight, for fear that she might get ‘suntan’ thus decreasing her ‘market value’.
Aurea Galla was therefore “perfectly pagan”. She was a…
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Aurea Galla was therefore “perfectly pagan”. She was a ‘high-price slave’ who had been purchased for a small fortune by a brutal patrician who intended to déflore his latest virgin slave in an orgy. It happen that Our Lord was in Caesarea Maritime at the eves of that diabolical feast.Our Lord Jesus overheard the conversation of the ‘feast’ to come. I cut the story short, but let’s only say that Claudia, the spouse of Ponce Pilate, and admirer of Jesus the Nazaréen ‘wise man’, managed to remove the young virgin slave and bring her to safety to the group of apostles. That say, when the apostle and the Lord left rapidly town, the young and trembling girl got attracted to St. Bartholomew. It was a natural attraction of a young orphan girl who perhaps found a reassuring fatherly figure in the person of this old dignified man. The “perfectly pagan” learned very rapidly that Jesus is God, and the docte apostle taught her the basics of the true religion, which she absorbed immediately.
In fine, St. Bartholomew appear the perfect foster father to adopt the young Gaelic orphan girl. It did not happen, because the prejudices of being “a true child of Israel,” prevented him to bring an “impure” into his blossom and home. Our Lord eventually gave the ‘fugitive’ young virgin to people of the town of Cana.
This anecdote is telling of the character of St. Bartholomew “a true child of Israel,”
One more different telling is about…
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One more different telling is about the “Can anything good come out of Nazareth (1:46)?”. It must be said that a false ‘Jesus’ from Nazareth had raised an insurrection a few years before. Those were the Zealots, from which incidentally the Apostle Simon the Zealot or Simon the Leper had been a part and a leader of that Zealot Insurrection, which was crushed by the Romans. This “Can anything good come out of Nazareth (1:46)?” may be explained by some apprehension of joining an other someone from Nazareth. In all case St. Bartholomew, in spite of his old age, left nearly everything to follow Our Lord. He was “a true child of Israel.”